Abstract: Anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Anammox) process is a novel and
promising wastewater nitrogen removal process. The feasibility of transition of
Anammox from denitrification and the performance of lab-scale Anammox biofilm
reactor were investigated with sludge dewatering effluent. The results showed
that Anammox process could be successfully started up after cultivation of
denitrification biofilm and using it as inoculum. The transition of Anammox
from denitrification was accomplished within 85 d. Anammox process was found
suitable to remove ammonia from sludge dewatering effluent. The effluent
ammonia concentration was detected to be 23.11 mgN/L at HRT of 28 h when
influent ammonia concentration was fed 245 mgN/L, which was less than that for
the national discharge standard II (25 mgN/L) of China. Volumetric total
nitrogen loading rate was up to 584.99 mm TN/(L·d) at HRT of 17 h, while
influent concentrations were kept 243.25 mg NH_4^+-N/L and
288.31 mg NO_2^--N/L.